


Wedding Day

by M_TheCat



Category: Jrock, the GazettE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Snakes, Transformation, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2019-09-15 01:18:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16923882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_TheCat/pseuds/M_TheCat
Summary: Kai yawned. “Can’t we just stay here for a little while?”“Well, as much as I’d love to do that, we do have a very important event taking place today.”Kai lurched upright abruptly. “God, Uru, I almost forgot, the wedding’s today right, and..”Uruha glanced up at the ceiling and worked at extricating himself from Kai’s coils. “Yes. the ritual.”Uruha and Kai have been together for a long time, and they want to take the next step in their relationship.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This will most likely be only 2-3 chapters.

Uruha awoke to the sensation of a light brushing of tongues against his cheek. His eyes slowly opened to see the face of Kai.  _ My Kai,  _ he thought, before slowly reaching out to touch his hair. His fingers brushed through silky smooth hair before eventually hitting on one of Kai’s hair snakes. 

“Love, you know I do love to be woken up by one of your kisses, but I think that there was an unspoken provision that those kisses had to come from your mouth.” 

Kai’s eyes slowly opened, revealing slit pupils and lovely golden irises. 

“Uru, I remember no such provision.” 

Uruha begun to shift from where he was trapped in Kai’s coils. 

“Kai, I think that I need to be released from your trap, much as I hate to say this.” 

Kai yawned. “Can’t we just stay here for a little while?” 

“Well, as much as I’d love to do that, we do have a very important event taking place today.”

Kai lurched upright abruptly. “God, Uru, I almost forgot, the wedding’s today right, and..”

Uruha glanced up at the ceiling, and worked at extricating himself from Kai’s coils. “Yes. the ritual.” 

Kai begun to move off the bed, working to shift aside the veritable menagerie of blankets that had been piled there during the cold night. “Are you going to be okay with this?” 

“Yes.” Uruha was sitting on the edge of the bed, seemingly in a trance.

“Are you sure you don’t want me coming along?”

“Rules are rules.” 

“You do realize I’ll love you no matter what speci-”

Uruha turned around to look at Kai. “I know, love. I just want this marriage of ours to be respected by the Council. I don’t want to age and wither while you stay young, and I don’t really want all your parent’s hard work setting this up to go to waste. ”

Kai slithered over to Uruha’s side, brushing some hair out of his face. “I know that. I just don’t want to feel like you’re being forced into this.” 

Uruha sighed, and caught Kai’s hand as it tried to make another pass through his hair. “Come on. We have a lot to prepare for, you know.” 

Kai rolled his eyes and moved away, his large tail bumping the side of the bed as he moved towards the bathroom. 

  
  
  


As Uruha sat in the small dark room, with lamia attendants rubbing some sort of liquid into every crevice of his body, fairy powder mixed with something foul-smelling, allegedly to make sure the nagah mana stuck to his body and mixed properly with his human mana, though he supposed they might just be stalling to get the last bits set up properly, he recalled the day he first met Kai. 

 

_ It had been a bitterly cold night. Rainy too, the kind of rain that hurts when it hits and feels like it’s freezing to your skin. He had been walking alongside a lonely country road, praying to every god he knew for a car to drive by that would take hitchhikers. Something, anything.  Finally, he was almost ready to give up, for his clothes were soaked to the skin and his shoes were starting to fall apart and get his socks wet. He thought he might just lie down on the side of the road and just take a nap. Just freeze into a block of ice _ ,  _ only to be seen by the few travelers who for some fucking reason decided to drive through a windy road in the middle of fucking nowhere. Uruha had just finished entertaining this thought before he tripped over a tree root and sent both limbs and his backpack flying. After pausing for a moment to let out a string of curses at the scraped up state of his hands and the now very visible tear in his jeans, he bent over to pick up his backpack. When he looked up, he saw that he was seemingly in the middle of a forest that stretched in all directions, with no lonely winding road or fucking cold rain in sight. Fuck. He decided that he must have been marching solidly in one direction, too solidly to tell when he was no longer following the road and had instead wandered off.  _

_ “You okay?”  _

_ Uruha nearly jumped out of his skin. His eyes darted wildly in an attempt to find where the voice came from, but he only saw forest.  _

_ “Where are you?” His voice shook.  _

_ “Look up.” Uruha glanced towards the sky and almost fell over.  _

_ On the branch above him, some sort of human-snake hybrid was lounging,. His long red-brown tail was coiled around the thick branch, and Uruha could have sworn that there were snakes moving in his hair.  _

_ “See me now?” He grinned, and Uruha could almost think that it was cute if it wasn’t for the pair of long, sharp looking fangs pointing out.  _

_ “Don’t eat me!” Uruha was only able to blurt out this statement before he fell over on his back. The snake monster was uncoiling from the branch and was starting to make its way down the tree. Uruha begun to silently pray, pray that this was all a horrible dream and that he would wake up nice and cozy in his bed, with nary a snake monster or weird forest or parents that would scream and throw picture frames in sight. _

_ “Hey, I’m not going to eat you.”  _

_ “Wait, what?” Uruha looked up at the snake monster with distrust from his position on the forest floor.  _

_ The snake monster tilted his head. “No, really. I’m not going to eat you. I just want to help you find your way out.” _

_ Uruha rolled his eyes. “What do you mean?”  _

_ “Humans can’t usually find their way into here. You aren’t supposed to be here. I have to lead you out.”  _

_ “I was just going to leave here, so I would appreciate the help if you could lead me out.”  _

_ The snake monster extended his hand to Uruha.  _

_ “By the way, what’s your name?” Uruha pulled himself up, not taking the snake monster’s hand.  _

_ The snake monster looked weirdly disappointed. “Kai. And you are?”  _

_ “Uruha.”  _

 

_ Uruha and Kai had been walking, or rather one of them had been walking and the other had been slithering, rustling everything as he went.  _

_ “So, where do you live?”  _

_ Uruha stopped suddenly after that question. “Um, well, actually I don’t have anywhere to go in particular.”  _

_ Kai stopped and turned around, fixing Uruha in his gaze. “What do you mean you don’t have anywhere to go?”  _

_ “I just- my parents kicked me out. I don’t have anywhere to go.”  _

_ Kai looked at Uruha with some expression that he couldn’t read. “Your parents threw you out? Why?”  _

_ Uruha glanced aside, his heart starting to pound in his chest. “I’m gay. They caught me fooling around with some dude, god I can’t even remember his name, told me I had to get out or they’d-” He cut off. Why was he telling this to a complete stranger?  _

_ Kai’s face flashed with a number of incomprehensible emotions. His hair snakes begun to dart around wildly. “Stay with me, then.”  _

_ “What?”  _

_ Kai smiled again, his fangs flashing in the recently arrived sunlight. “I said, you can stay with me.” _

_ “I thought that humans weren’t allowed to live wherever this place is?”  _

_ “You can live in my closet. My parents won’t suspect a thing. I’ll find you chips or sushi or whatever it is that humans eat.”  _

_ Uruha considered his options. He could either continue to walk alongside the road until he reached some major city and then.. to be honest he hadn’t really figured that part out yet. Or, he supposed, he could go along with Kai to live in the woods somewhere with his snake family and hopefully not get eaten.  _

_ “What the hell. I’m in.”  _

 

Uruha had just awakened from his reminiscencing when one of the lamia poked her head out the door. 

“Sir, could you come in please, the ritual is about to begin.” 

 


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't like snakes, just a bit of warning, there's a scene wherein a character gets covered in snakes and they fuse into his body. If you won't like that, just skip anything between "Sorry." and "You can stop screaming now."

 

Uruha began to walk forward as slowly as he could manage. He could barely see anything in the dark room, save for the two hands of the lamia that were leading him in. A horrible thought came to his head. What if this whole thing was a trap? What if they were just preparing him to be eaten, all this time? What if when he took another step forward, he fell into a pit of spikes or pool of acid? He stopped in his tracks. 

“Step forward.” 

Uruha shuffled his feet forward a few steps, not wanting to fall into some sort of pit. 

“Um, a bit more.” 

Uruha took two small steps forward. God, what if there was some sort of trap?

“You can calm down. Nothing’s going to bite you.” 

Uruha began to walk forward once more, before the floor seemingly fell away underneath him and he pitched forward suddenly, a set of arms catching him. 

“You may stand. Release the light!” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Uruha saw small balls of light appear, as if out of nowhere, and fly around the room, soaring higher and higher upwards before settling in some sort of sculpture hanging on the ceiling, illuminating the room.  He looked around the room and it looked as if he appeared to be standing in some sort of intricate circle engraved on the floor, surrounded by lamia attendants. In front of him was a deep, long pit, almost like a bathtub set into the floor, only there was a hissing noise emanating from the bathtub. God, his stomach was twisting itself into knots. He wondered if the order not to eat anything was to keep him from puking his guts up onto the floor, rather than any mystical reason. Fuck, his head was spinning. Was it too late to call the whole thing off? Say that he had a change of heart? Kai would probably be delighted, if nothing else. Wait. Did they say something? 

“What?” 

One of the lamias looked him dead in the eye. “We said, Uruha-san, to step into the pool.” 

Okay. He stuck one of his feet in the snake pool. Three of the snakes suddenly started winding up his leg. Oh god. He knew now. He knew. This was a pit of man-eating snakes and they were going to kill and eat him. The whole Council set this up to get rid of him. Kai would be pissed. 

“Fuck!” He yanked his foot out of the pool. One of the lamia looked at him, displeasure clearly visible on her face. 

“Sorry.” 

Uruha barely even had time to register it before he was unceremoniously shoved into the snake pool. 

 

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck god no. God no. He could feel it, the writhing, scaly bodies all over him, the telltale tingling of being infused with mana through his scalp as some snakes curled in his hair  _ no fuck get those things away from me _ scales and bone melting into his skull. It traveled down his face, the bones of his front teeth hollowing out and stretching. He could feel the snakes wrapping around his legs, pushing them tighter and tighter together, the skin and bones fusing  _ fuckshitfuck why the hell did i agree to this _ as the tingling expanded into full-on static, his skin stiffening and breaking under the influence, the mana running out his toes, pulling the bones downward,  _ fuck that hurt  _ He began to shift, flailing his arms and attempting to kick his legs. Shit, there was a lot more there than he was used to. 

“You can stop screaming now.” A familiar voice echoed from somewhere else before a pair of someone leaned over him and grabbed one of his arms before sharply dragging him out. 

 

Uruha attempted to stand, desperately trying to find his feet in all that mess of tail. He fell forward but was caught by a lamia. 

“Uruha-sama, are you okay?” He thought he heard a giggle from one of the attendants. 

He rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. Can I see Kai?” He began to notice a strange tugging at his scalp, like someone was pulling at his hair. A quick glance to the side confirmed it was one of his head snakes.  _ God, is this what Kai feels all the time?  _

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone slither over to his side. A quick glance confirmed that it was Ruki.

_ Ruki.  _

_ Thank fuck.   _

“Uruha, if you’re done staring at the floor like a dead rat, I think that you need to get ready for the wedding.”

Uruha looked up from the set of arms that was holding him. “I think I might need some help with that.”  _ Understatement of the century.  _ He felt as though he was about to puke, his scalp was aching with the constant tugging, and he had about a meter more of foot than he was used to.  

Ruki rolled his eyes. “You’re fine.” 

Uruha looked up at him, trying to muster up the most pitiful look that he could. 

Ruki seemed unaffected. “You need to be able to move in your new body. Slither up the aisle and all that. Never mind the wedding night..” 

Uruha had been making several concerted efforts to stand up, and finally managed to do so.  

Ruki waved his hand to get the other attendant to leave. “You very obviously can stand. I think it stands to reason that you can slither out that door.” 

He let go of Uruha’s arm, and slithered to the side. 

Uruha rose up, rocking back and forth on his tail.  _ How the hell do I do this _ ?  _ I’ve seen Kai move a billion times by now, I should know what to do. I should. I don’t.  _ He began to shift his weight to the left, in an attempt to slither. 

Barely a second had passed before Ruki slithered over to his side. “God, you’re doing it all wrong. You’re moving like a dancer, not a nagah.” He grabbed his arms. 

The next few minutes were nothing but: 

“You need to move your tail more.”

“God, are you even trying to push off of the ground?” 

“You have more than two joints. Use them!” 

It continued on like this for quite some time. 

 

A while later, Kai was sitting in front of a mirror, watching as his attendant, Ruki, pinned something to the back of his head. 

“What’s the point of putting something there if no one can see it?” 

Ruki rolled his eyes. “It’s ceremonial. Honestly, if a humble lamia, one of the common snakes cares more for tradition than the great Crown Prince of the Nagah, then we’re really going downhill..” 

Ruki had continued talking, but Kai had tuned him out. His mind was currently occupied by thoughts of Uruha. How did he take to the ritual? What did he look like? How was he adjusting to his new body?

“Can’t I see him?” 

Ruki continued to work on his adornments, working down to his neck. “Like I said the past twenty times, no.” 

“But-” 

“Look. The first time you’ll see his new and improved form-” 

Kai turned around rather violently. “He’s not  _ improved.  _ He was fine the way he was.” 

Ruki threw his hands up in the air. “Fine, fine. I was just saying that you will be absolutely starstruck. Nothing went wrong. He’s just Uruha-with-a-snake-tail. He’s fine. So  _ relax. _ ” He pushed down on his shoulders. 

  
  


Kai did not relax. 

 

He was waiting near the back of the main chamber of the Great Temple, wringing his hands. His snakes were darting about wildly, flicking their tongues.  Most of the guests were in place by now, with attendants helping the last few stragglers to their seats. In the crowd, he spotted Ritsuka, one of the attendants who had been in charge of the ritual. 

_ Uruha has to be okay and adjusted, right? They would have told me if he wasn’t. Ritsuka is in charge of the whole thing. If she’s out there helping,  Uruha must be all right.  _ He kept repeating this mantra to himself over and over again, even though his worries were for naught, he knew that. 

The attendants tugged on some ropes, silken sheets falling to cover stained-glass windows, the lighting suddenly growing dim. Kai was still standing at the... _ what had he called it? Oh, right. An altar.  _  Melodious voices started to fill the high ceiling of the temple, alien words accompanied by strings and steady beats. Kai couldn’t understand the siren language, no non-sirens could, but he could grasp the meaning, the high vocals and soft notes creating a lovely, romantic feeling. 

 

The doors to the outside hall slowly creaked open. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to end here. 
> 
> It really was. 
> 
> Motherfucking muses. 
> 
> You just HAD to bring Aoi into this, did you?

  


Through the doorway, Uruha walked inwards, his movements jerky and halting, the movement of his hair snakes shifting the circlet on his head. Kai started with his mouth agape, stared at slit-pupils set into lovely dark eyes, stared at the tight gown that the attendants had seen fit to dress him in, perfectly hugging every part of his body. Not like he was complaining, though. 

  


The music rose to a crescendo as Uruha approached the altar, almost sliding over the small ramp leading up. 

“Kai.” His voice, breathless, high. Kai was too lost in thoughts to respond.  _ Damn, that tail is hot, so strong, he looks so sexy in that outfit the instant we get out of here I’m- _

“Crown Prince Kai of the Great Nagah House, Uruha of the Nagah House, would you both please extend your hands outward.” 

_ Oh. _ Kai turned around, seeing the High Priest of the Snakes slither up the aisle. Seeing Uruha move his hands in his general direction, Kai decided to follow suit. The priest took Uruha’s hands in his own and begun to paint something on them with red ink, swirling designs that resembled scales and the twisted bodies of lesser snakes. He followed on Kai’s hands, before moving away. 

“Slither upwards.” 

Kai quickly turned around and begun to slither up the short ramp. 

“Kai, uh..” 

Kai looked back at his soon-to-be husband. “Need help?” 

Uruha smiled. “Yeah.” 

Kai grabbed Uruha’s hand and helped him up to the top of the ramp (the  _ altar,  _ he reminded himself) before turning to the High Priest. The Priest stared back at him, his eyes like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

Uruha squeezed his hand and looked into his eyes. “Blessed be by the powers of the Infinite Heavens, I am grateful for the day that the Crown Prince of the Nagah found me in the forest, and..” 

_ Oh, oh that!  _ Kai jumped in. “Blessed be by the powers of the Infinite Heavens-”    
Uruha abruptly stopped.  _ Shit! Was I supposed to wait for him?  _ In the distance, he thought he could hear Ruki grumbling. 

Uruha rolled his eyes at him, though not without a smile, and continued. 

“I have been blessed by the gods of the Infinite Heavens for allowing me entrance into this bountiful land, and I am humbled to mate your Crown Prince.” 

Kai was staring off into space when Uruha finished.  _ Oh, now!  _

“I am blessed by the Infinite Heavens for you to arrive in our lovely land, and I have chosen you to be my mate. I have granted you the gift of immortality, which you have accepted. I love you.  

That last part kind of slipped out, and he could hear some Council members in the background muttering to themselves. 

  


The sirens began to sing again, and the High Priest started talking, but Kai didn’t really care. He was a bit preoccupied with Uruha’s face and the fact that he was married to him.  _ Yes. We’re married. Uruha’s my husband. Husband. Husband!  _

He was distracted from his thoughts by the sensation of Uruha’s lips on his, his newly forked tongue slipping into his mouth. Kai decided to return the kiss, smiling beneath it.  _ Husband! Married!  _

“Kai, love, everyone’s leaving for the afterparty.” Uruha pulled away after what seemed like only a few seconds. 

“I don’t really want to go. Nothing but fake congratulations from people who would rather be somewhere else.” 

“True. But we do kind of have to or everyone will jump on our asses, plus the Aranea ambassador might get shitfaced drunk again.” 

Kai rolled his eyes. “Fine. But after that, we are going straight back to our bedchambers and I am going to thoroughly ravish you.” 

“Who the hell says ravish these days?” Uruha laughed before slithering off out of the room. 

  


  


                                                    *****************************

  
  


It had been three hours into the afterparty and nothing of interest had happened. Kai was aimlessly staring off into the crowd, while Uruha busied himself with the food. To his surprise, the raw meat that was being served was surprisingly tasty.  _ Well, chalk that up to new nagah taste buds.  _ Meanwhile, Kai’s eyes seemed to be focused on one person, in particular, staring at him with a strange intensity. 

  


“Kai, you okay?” 

Kai turned around. “Yeah, Uru. I’m fine.” 

“Than who’s that?” 

He sighed. “Just a-someone I didn’t want to show up. Let’s put it that way.” 

Uruha laughed. “What, an evil ex?” 

Kai smiled, in a sort of pained way. “No kidding.” 

“Wait, really?” 

“Yeah.” Kai gestured out towards the crowd, focusing on a guy with curled ram’s horns and bat-like wings. He was kind of attractive, Uruha idly thought. 

“Name’s Aoi, of the Shiroyama Brood Most Noble and direct heir to the Throne of Demons, so you could see why my parents might choose to set us up in our youth.” 

Uruha took another look. “Soo..” 

Kai sighed. “Didn’t work out. We dated for a while, some shit happened, and he called off the engagement. We didn’t really leave off on the  _ best  _ of terms, so to speak.” 

“Oh. So, evil ex, then.” 

Kai laughed. 

  
  


                     *********************************************************************

  


It had been three? Four? Five hours?  _ God this party just seems to keep going on forever.  _ Uruha was moving throughout the dining hall, attempting to dodge Elders and leaders of other monster races who wanted to congratulate him, tell him he wasn’t good enough for Kai or a strange combination of both. 

“Ruki, thank god!” 

  


Ruki turned around. “Uruha! I was wondering when you’d show up.”

  


“Oh, finally someone sane in this mess.” Uruha slithered up to Ruki’s side. 

  


“You okay?” 

  


“Not really. If I have to listen to one more Eldar tell me about how hot I am ‘for a human’ or another person wanting to passive-aggressively tell me about how I stole their kid’s place to be Kai’s consort, I’m going to explode.” 

  


Ruki sighed in sympathy. “That bad, huh?” 

  


“Yeah. I really should be used-”  Someone suddenly tapped Uruha on the shoulder. Uruha turned around to see Aoi. 

  


Ruki glared at him. “What the hell are you doing here?” 

  


Aoi rolled his eyes. “Can’t I come to this historic event without ulterior motives? Or are you just too blinded by hatred to think straight?” 

  


“Kai doesn’t want you here. I don’t want you here. Get. Out.” Ruki glared, fire in his eyes. Uruha idly thought about Medusa, and how Ruki might be glaring hard enough to turn Aoi to stone. 

  


“Honestly, if you think that the Lillim will react well to one of their own being told off so rudely, you have another thing coming. But, I’m not here for you.” 

  


Aoi reached over and grabbed Uruha’s hand. “I want to have a  _ talk _ .”  _ Wait, what?  _

He tugged on Uruha’s arm, Uruha being caught along with him in his strangely strong grip. 

  


They eventually arrived at a small, out-of-the-way closet, Uruha’s tail pressing uncomfortably against the door when it was shut. “If you’re just going to lecture me about how I stole Kai from you, keep it brief. I’ve heard that whole song and dance about twenty times now.” 

  


Aoi laughed, brushing some of his hair behind his horns. “Do you honestly take me to be that kind of guy? I’m just here to wish you and Kai the best of luck.” 

  


“Somehow, I don’t believe that.” 

  


“Has Kai been filling your head with lies about me?” 

  


Uruha clenched his fist. “Kai has done  _ nothing  _ of the sort!” 

  


Aoi leaned in closer. “Oh, really? What did he tell you about me?” 

  


“He told me that your parents set you up, you dated, it didn’t go well, you broke up on bad terms.” 

  


The Lillim laughed. “Oh, is that all? Did he not tell you why we broke up?” 

  


“Not really.” 

  


“He dumped me. For you. What the hell do you, a lowly human of poor stock, have that I, the heir to the Throne of Demons does not?” 

  


_ Oh, shit.  _ “I’m sorry.” Uruha attempted to reach out. 

  


Aoi slapped his hand away. “I don’t need your pity. I just wanted to tell you.” 

  


“Why?” 

  


“I don’t know. Just wanted to see who the human that Kai threw me away for really is.” He cast a sullen look, before walking out the door. 

  


“Wait-” Aoi had already stormed out of the room. 

_ Shit, that was weird.  _

  
  


                     *************************************************************

  


Uruha had made it to where Kai had been sitting, only to find the Ambassador to the Strigoi sitting in Kai’s seat. 

  


“Where’s Kai?” 

  


The ambassador, Hayashi-something-or-or-other, glanced at him, seemingly without a care. “How should I know?” 

  


“You’re sitting in his seat.” Uruha’s snakes had started to get agitated.  _ Why the hell am I so worried?   _

  


He got up, pushing the chair back “I don’t know where he is.” 

  


Uruha slithered away.   _ It’s nothing. He’s probably chatting with Ruki or something. Or something.  _

  


Uruha was making his way down the wide hallways when he almost bumped into someone. 

  


“Oh, shit, sorry, Uruha.” 

  


“Do you know where Kai is?” 

  


Ruki tilted his head. “No. Why, did Aoi say something creepy?” 

  


Uruha shook his head. “He just said some stuff about how Kai’s been filling my head with lies, how he wanted to see the ‘human who Kai left him for’, stuff like that.” 

  


“Human who Kai left him for? I thought the whole negotiation thing just fell through?” 

  


“That’s what Kai said.” Uruha had started moving, where, he didn’t know. He moved throughout the hallways somewhat clumsily, dodging servants and drunk party guests.  _ Oh, there’s the Aranea ambassador. Shouldn’t your husband be taking you back to whatever underground caverns you spend your time in? I think he’d be  _ very  _ happy to have you back. Wait.  _ Uruha suddenly thought of something.  _ Didn’t Kai say that he’d love to ravish me after this is all over?  _

  


Uruha suddenly made a beeline for their bedroom, moving as quickly as his relative inexperience with his body allowed him. He reached the door, throwing it open. 

  


The room was dark, with one of the windows being thrown open, blowing wind into the room. Uruha moved inward, his mind racing.  _ Kai, you better not be hiding to jump me!  _ He ran his fingers along the intricate paintings on the wall, the two-dimensional creations coming to life and soaring up the walls, filling the room with light. After Uruha’s eyes adjusted, he noticed three things. 

  


Number 1: The room was in complete disarray, sheets were strewn everywhere and side tables toppled over. 

Number 2: Kai was nowhere to be seen, and after calling out, he did not respond. 

Number 3: There was a note pinned to the pillow. 

  


Uruha moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge, before unpinning the note and reading the distinctly loopy handwriting. 

  


_ Uruha,  _

  


_ By the time you read this, I will have left with Aoi for the Nine Hells, as I have decided that he would be the better partner, being my equal in magic and combat. He is also the heir to the Throne of Demons, and this would create a beneficial alliance between our Enclave and the Nine Hells. I hope you understand this, and that there are no hard feelings between us.  _

  


_ Kai, Crown Prince of the Nagah and Consort to the Demon Lord _

  


Uruha put down the note, a deep sigh building in his throat.  _ God, Aoi, you didn’t even try, did you?  _

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! 
> 
> Live got in the way, but I valiantly persevered, and here's Chapter 3!

The Council meeting felt like it had gone on for an eternity and they still weren’t any closer to getting Kai back. Uruha had argued fiercely for Kai’s rescue, as had Kai’s father, but the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune and the Ryu Lord had proclaimed that there was no way they could expect to go against the full military might of the Nine Hells and expect to win, plus wasn’t Aoi a better match for Kai then some human turned nagah who just so happened to stumble into the Enclave?

 

Uruha was running his fingers through his hair, stroking the head of one of his hair snakes, when he suddenly heard a banging on the door. 

 

The Kyuubi-no-Kitsune looked up, opening the doors with a wave of her hand. “You may enter!”

 

Uruha glanced over, welcome for something, anything to distract him from his worry and boredom. 

 

In the doorway, stood a creature like Aoi, but with larger horns and goat legs, his face rougher than Aoi’s, a prominent scar across the bridge of his nose.  _ God, why the hell is a demon here?  _

 

Kai’s father jumped up from his seat. “Why the hell is your kind here? Come to gloat after you stole away our crown prince?” 

 

“I’m not here to pick a fight.” 

 

“Then why the hell are you here!” Uruha jumped up, shocked at the words that just came out of his mouth. 

 

The demon threw his hands up in the air. “Easy! I’m here to help get your crown prince back.” 

 

Uruha glared at him. He wasn’t feeling particularly trustworthy towards the demon, and his hair snakes were just as agitated as he felt. “How the fuck do I know that you aren’t going to lead us to Aoi on a silver platter?” 

 

The Council hall suddenly erupted into shouts of disorder, howls and hisses amongst the more conventional sounds of arguing voices. In the midst of all the commotion, The King of the Beasts stood up from his seat, slowly walking towards the demon in the entranceway. 

 

“Do none of you see that this could be an opportunity for us to figure out the Crown Prince of the Nagah’s actions? If he really did leave us to marry the Demon Prince, then we could simply slip into the inner chambers of the Nine Hell’s castle and get confirmation-” 

 

Uruha gritted his teeth. “He. Did. Not. Leave. Us.” 

 

“As I was saying before I was so  _ rudely interrupted,  _ we could either get confirmation if he really did run off with the Demon Prince or rescue him if he was actually kidnapped.” 

 

The Kyuubi-no-Kitsune rolled her eyes. “Atsushi-san, do you honestly expect that the full military might of the Nine Hells will simply roll over and allow us to take away their leader-to-be’s chosen consort?” 

 

Kai’s father gestured to the rest of the Council members. “Does anyone else have any better ideas?” 

 

The rest of the room erupted into more arguing. 

  
  


                                      *********************************************

 

_ God, how the hell did this day go from the best day of my life to this kind of shit?  _ Kai thought as he tried to twist his way out of Aoi’s bindings. His cheek was pressed uncomfortably against the stone floor, and his tail was strung up from the ceiling with magic bindings that stung whenever he pressed into them too hard. 

 

“Kai!” The door suddenly swung open. 

 

_ Oh, fuck. Not again.  _ Kai tilted his head to the side slightly, seeing Aoi walking through the door, wearing tight pants and an unbuttoned military jacket. 

 

“I don’t suppose that you could undo these bindings?” Kai let out a nervous laugh. 

 

Aoi’s face twisted into something dark and ugly. “Do you honestly think that I would let you? The instant I let you free, I know you’re going to go right back to that witch bastard’s arms.” 

 

Kai tilted his head, before jerking backward at the sharp sting. “Witch?” 

 

Aoi sat down on the floor, his hand stroking Kai’s cheek in some twisted mockery of love. “How else could he have taken your heart from its rightful place at my side?  He must have used some sort of love potion or spell. A strong one, too, given that it hasn’t broken already.” 

 

Aoi removed the flask attached to his waist, a pink liquid that billowed out into clouds of swirling smoke when Aoi uncorked it. 

 

“The hell is that?”  _ Oh shit, please don’t let it be some sort of love potion, please!  _

 

“You really shouldn’t worry. It’s just one of the ingredients to undoing whatever the hell that witch did to you.” 

 

_ Oh, god, that’s a love potion. Uru, I’m sorry!  _

 

Aoi suddenly grabbed Kai’s head and pried open his mouth, forcing the liquid down Kai’s throat, the taste stinging his tongue and making his head grow foggy.  _ Uru, I’m sorry! Please forgive me! Please- _

 

Suddenly, a brightly colored fog stung his eyes and he blacked out. 

 

*************************************************************************************************************

Uruha was lying on his and Kai’s bed, staring at the ceiling. He could still hear the ringing tones of the Council members engaged in fierce debate over what to do about Kai. In the end, they had decided to ignore Reita’s offer of help and done nothing, sending Uruha up to his and Kai’s room. 

 

_ God, can I even call it our room anymore?  _ A single tear slipped down his cheek. Ruki had offered to comfort him, help in any way he could, but Uruha had sent him away. He wanted to be alone. 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open and a figure slip their way in. 

 

“Ruki, I told you that I-” 

 

“‘I’m not Ruki.” 

 

Uruha looked up. Reita was leaning against the doorframe, a strange expression on his face. 

 

“What do you want?” 

 

He stepped into the room. “Same as I said in front of all the others. I want to help you rescue your husband.”

 

Uruha tilted his head. “What do you get out of all of this?” 

 

“Can’t a guy just do something out of the goodness of his heart?” Reita walked into the room.  

 

“Given that your boss just kidnapped the love of my life, I’m not inclined to believe that.” 

 

“Just cause I work for the throne doesn’t mean I work for Aoi.” He shook his head, his hooves digging into the floor. 

 

Uruha got up from the bed. “The hell does that mean?” 

 

“I’m attached to the throne, not Aoi. His Most Lustful Majesty can’t have me killed without going through his retainers or my uncle.” 

 

“How did I know you he didn’t put you up to this?” 

 

“You don’t.” 

 

The two men stared in silence at each other for a while, 

 

“Reita, have you-” Ruki poked his head around the corner, stopping when he saw Uruha. 

 

“Ruki? What the hell are you doing here?” 

 

Ruki ignored him and turned to Reita. “Reita, are we going now?” 

 

“Going where?” 

 

Ruki rolled his eyes. “To the Nine Hells. Reita can summon up a portal to the outskirts of Bael, and we can grab Kai.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

 

Uruha turned to face Ruki. “And you’re just going to trust him?” 

 

“What choice do we have? Do you know something I don’t!” 

 

“He works for Aoi! Do you honestly think that he won’t hand us over to the guards the instant we step into the palace?” 

 

“Isn’t that a risk you’re willing to take? Kai could be getting brainwashed into Aoi’s love slave right know and you’re willing to wait?” 

 

“I...I don’t want to wait. I just don’t trust him.” His mind tormented him with thoughts of Aoi’s body wrapped around Kai’s, Aoi’s tongue worming into Kai’s eagerly waiting mouth, Aoi’s slender hand reaching downward, Kai moaning in ecstasy…

 

“Let’s go.” 

  
  


*************************************************************************************************************

 

Aoi was silently  _ steaming _ . 

 

It was in the middle of a  _ boring  _ council meeting about how the university in Stolas needed a bigger budget for some sort of astrology project, and the potential to expand the budget for all the universities, but Aoi didn’t care about that. 

 

His mind quickly wandered to his husband-to-be, who must be getting so bored and impatient with him, having to wait in their bedroom. 

 

_ In a minute, my love. I know you must be missing me, but I just have to stay for a few more minutes!  _

 

Aoi began distracting himself with thoughts of Kai’s lovely body winding around his own, Kai’s cock deep in his ass,  _ god he’s so lovely I can’t wait- _

 

“Shiroyama-sama!” 

 

_ Shit! _

 

*************************************************************************************************************

  
  


“Ow!” 

 

An ashamed-looking devil jumped away from where she’d stepped on Uruha’s tail, Ruki silently snickering next to him. Uruha pressed his hands further into the pockets of his coat, hoping to escape the bitter cold. 

 

Uruha had lost count of how long they’d been traveling for, slithering over cold streets and trying not to die of hypothermia. Reita had, of course, neglected to mention that the city of Bael was carved into the side of a massive mountain of ice, or that snakefolk were much, much,  _ much  _ more sensitive to cold than people. 

 

_ God, is he  _ trying  _ to get us killed?  _

 

The train car jolted to a complete stop, Ruki almost falling over. As the doors swung open, Reita turned to face the two snakefolk. 

 

“We’re here.” 

 

Uruha peered out the doors. His eyes caught on a magnificent castle of shining black stone, thin, spindly towers reaching up into the dark sky, magical torches of green flame lighting up intricate carvings that decorated the side. He turned to Reita.

 

“How do you suppose that we get up there?” 

 

Reita stared back at him. “I...uh...I know how to get into the castle walls, and where Aoi’s personal rooms are, but…” 

 

“Are you telling me that YOU DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO GET US THERE?” 

 

Ruki rolled his eyes. “Gods, Uru, I can shield us both with a simple spell. That’s why Reita brought me along,  _ remember? _ ” 

 

“That’s a good idea!” Reita began walking off of the train, setting towards the castle. Ruki turned to Uruha, placing his hands on his own and muttering something under his breath. A wet feeling radiated out of where Ruki had touched him, and Ruki seemingly disappeared into thin air not a moment later. 

  
  


*************************************************************************************************************

 

Uruha had spent who-knows-how-long trying to navigate through the dark, winding hallways of the Royal Palace, the nigh-omnipresent cold biting through his cloak. Reita had been whispering directions to him as quietly as he could manage, which wasn’t much, and Ruki had been clinging to Reita’s side. There had been a few close calls, one where the invisibility spell almost failed before Ruki made it over to his side and restored it with a touch of his cheek, and another where a hulking demon guard tripped over his tail. 

 

_ How much longer is this going to take?  _ Uruha though as Reita walked towards a door concealed in an ornate archway. 

 

“This is the last of the pleasure chambers. If Kai’s not here, we’re going to check the prison cells.” 

 

Ruki sighed. “You honestly think Aoi’d keep ‘the love of his life’ in a dirty and cold prison cell?” 

 

“Hey, maybe he was being uncooperative.” Reita pushed open the door, revealing a dark room with a massive bed in the center. The whole place had a sickly-sweet smell to it that made Uruha’s tongue burn in his mouth. He felt something tugging at his scalp, his hair snakes flickering just out of view, and he raced towards the bed. 

 

His eyes caught onto a long figure slumped over in the middle of the bed, closer inspection seeing that it was Kai, dressed in a skimpy outfit that would have stirred something deep inside him if he wasn’t so worried at his prone state. He was lying limp across the bed, a lazy smile on his face. Uruha picked him up, holding him in his arms. 

 

“Kai, love, are you okay?”

 

Kai turned to look at him, confusion in his eyes. “I’m sorry, who are you?” 

 


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory sorry-for-the-long-wait. 
> 
> On with the chapter!

Uruha stood aback in shock.  _ Kai doesn’t know who I am? What the hell did Aoi do to him?  _

 

Ruki slithered forward, a furious expression on his face. “Kai, if you’re playing a practical joke, it’s not funny.” 

 

Kai was still staring at the group like he’d never seen them before. “I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know who you are. Do you work for Aoi?” 

 

Uruha grabbed his husband’s hand. “Kai. I’m your husband. Aoi kidnapped you and did something, what he did I don’t know, but he did something to your mind. We’re here to take you back.” 

 

Kai stood up, his hair snakes darting wildly about. “I...I don’t-” 

 

The door swung open. 

 

“Kai, my love! Are you-” Uruha turned around to see Aoi standing in the doorway, his shirt partially unbuttoned. His face suddenly twisted into something ugly. 

 

“ _ Uruha?  _ What the hell are you doing here?” 

 

Uruha slithered back.  _ Ohshitohshitohshit!!!  _

 

Aoi moved the doorway to the bed in the blink of an eye, his fingers intertwined with Kai’s. “I  _ knew _ you couldn’t stand to let Kai go, you filthy little witch. Well, too bad for you. I broke whatever enchantment you put on him, and now he’s mine again.” 

 

Aoi turned to cup Kai’s face, a smug expression on his face. Kai preened under the touch, his eyes glassy and his smile vacant. 

 

Uruha’s head snakes started hissing. “What. The. Hell. Did. You. Do. To. Him.” 

 

Aoi rolled his eyes, wrapping his wings around Kai, who was still staring up at him with slavish affection. “Honestly, are you so arrogant that you couldn’t think that I might be able to reverse your spell?” He gestured to Reita, who was trying to sneak out the door. “And you! Don’t think that there won’t be anything in store for you!” 

 

Reita’s head jerked up. “I honestly didn’t do anything wrong, my Most Demonic Majesty! I was just...just taking them to you to be captured! Yes, that’s what I was doing!” 

 

Both of the snakefolk rolled their eyes, Uruha holding his face in his hands.  _ Oh, gods.  _

 

Aoi sighed, slinging one of his legs around Kai’s tail, which curled around his waist. “I’m tired of this shit.” He raised one of his hands in the air, his eyes glowing. “ _ Teleri Ruki mi Uruha citri vigintum.”  _

 

Suddenly, the scenery changed before Uruha’s eyes. Gone was the lavishly decorated pleasure chambers, with their overstuffed cushions and sex toys hanging off of the padded walls. In their place was cold stone wall and metal bars humming with magical energy. 

 

“FUCK!” Ruki slammed a fist against the bars of their cell. The clang of fists hitting metal was soon mixed with the sound of searing flesh. “Gods, fuck! Fuck this shit!” Ruki sank to the floor, clutching his hand tightly with the other. His fangs were gritted tightly, tears slipping down his face.

 

Uruha turned his head, bending down to face Ruki. “Are you okay?” 

 

“No! They must’ve put some sort of curse on it.” He lifted up his hand, a deep burn visible across his knuckles. “Luckily, I can-” He suddenly cut off, a dark expression working its way across his face.

 

“What?” 

 

Ruki pressed his head against the stone wall, sinking to the floor. “Aoi must’ve put some sort of enchantment here. I can’t use magic.” 

 

Uruha sighed. “You’re shitting me. How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?” 

 

“Fuck if I know. With the best of luck, Reita might-” 

 

Uruha turned to the lamia. “Ruki, if he didn’t already bring us here as a trap-” 

 

“He  _ is innocent! _ ” 

 

“Fine, if it wasn’t a trap, then he’s most likely getting thrown in some cell just like we are. Our best hope is that word gets back to the Enclave and they-” 

 

Ruki started laughing bitterly. “Do what? Send our tiny army against the forces of the Nine Hells? Even if everyone in the Enclave fought together, we’d be like a single person going up against a mob.” 

 

Uruha pressed his head against the back of the cell, his snakes hissing at the pain of being pressed up against the stone walls. “Fuck.” 

 

Ruki slumped down, coiling his tail. “Yeah. Fuck.” 

 

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ruki raised his hand. “So, is your person a human?” 

 

“Nope.” 

 

“Does your person live in the Enclave?” 

 

“Yeah.” Uruha started to fidget with his jeweled belt.  _ God, I’m still in my wedding clothes, aren’t I? This feels like it should be a dream. It should be a dream.  _ He suddenly felt something tap his shoulder. 

 

Ruki was staring straight at him. “You okay?” 

 

“Not really.” Uruha reached around to turn the belt around so that the clasp faced the front, clicking it in and out.  _ In. Out. In. Out.  _ Ruki grabbed his hand. 

 

“Can you stop tha-” He suddenly stopped. 

 

Uruha looked up. “What?” 

 

Ruki pulled himself up. “Hand me that belt.” 

 

The nagah’s brow furrowed. “What are you going to do with it?” 

 

Ruki tilted his head. “I’m going to pick the lock.” 

 

Uruha pulled himself up. “Didn’t the lock do-” He gestured to Ruki’s burned hand. “That?”

 

“If it’s royal jewelry, they enchant those things to be fireproof. You can throw them in an active volcano and they’ll come out fine.” 

 

_ Seems like overkill,  _ Uruha thought, but he handed over the belt to Ruki, who turned around, inspecting the complicated-looking lock. He took the tongue of the belt and started poking it into the keyhole, his teeth gritted. There was the occasional hissing noise as the metal hit the sides of the keyhole, but the belt didn’t seem to be in any danger of melting. 

 

_ Honestly, the bigger problem's that Ruki wouldn't know what proper lockpicking is if it bit him in the ass. He’s just jamming in there.  _ Uruha slithered over, grabbing the belt out of Ruki’s hands. 

 

“What the hell?” Ruki glared up at him. 

 

“Okay, who here’s picked a lock before?” 

 

The lamia rolled his eyes. “Can’t be that hard.” 

 

Uruha snatched the belt out of Ruki’s hand, attempting to wriggle into his spot. “That just tells me you’ve never done it before.” 

 

Ruki rolled his eyes but moved back to let Uruha do his work. The mechanism was much more complicated than the ones back in the human world, but, after who-knows-how-long of fidgeting with the belt, a  _ click  _ echoed through the hallway and the door swung open. 

 

“Oh shit.” Ruki mouthed. Uruha turned his head around rapid-fire to see two demon guards running down the hallway, brandishing large swords alight with green flame. His body froze in place.  _ Oh shit’s right.   _

 

Ruki raised his hands up in the air, his eyes glowing. “ _ Aero oneiri quinquaginta aero orientem!”  _ The guards continued to move forward, but their steps were sluggish and, just a few steps away from the two snakes, they fell to the ground, asleep. 

 

Uruha turned around, his heart still wildly pounding. “What’re we going to do now?” 

 

Ruki began to slither away, faster than normal. “Try to get out, maybe, get back to the Enclave, figure out how to break the curse. What else can we do?” 

 

Uruha’s stomach twisted in anger, his snakes hissing. “We can’t just  _ leave  _ him here!” 

 

“Do you have any better ideas?” 

 

Uruha sighed and followed Ruki down the twisting halls of the dungeon, his stomach twisting at the memories of Kai staring up at Aoi, his eyes vacant of any kind of emotion or higher though, just slavish, blank, devotion.  _ No real love was in either of their eyes,  _ he thought.  _ Not like Kai on our wedding day.  _

 

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

Kai woke up, his limbs sore, the taste of Aoi’s cum still on his tongue. He felt a hand move through his hair, his snakes hissing at the intrusion. Kai turned around, his husband-to-be smiling at him. 

 

“Hello, Kai-love.” 

 

Kai tried to put on a fake smile. He didn’t seem to fool Aoi though, as the lilim’s expression quickly shifted from fond to concerned. 

 

“What’re you thinking about? It better not be that witch.” His face twisted into something resembling anger. 

 

Kai shifted back, biting his lip. Aoi’s hands reached out, brushing some strands of hair out of Kai’s face. “Don’t worry. I locked him and his accomplices away, and they’re never going to take you again, Kai-pet.” 

 

Kai sighed. He wriggled deeper into Aoi’s arms, his mind unable to stop thinking about the witch. He’d been the one that Aoi kept saying had kept him captive, twisted his mind into loving him with potions and spells.  _ But he seemed so nice! And he had a cute smile. What are you thinking about!,  _ a voice inside his head that sounded suspiciously like Aoi’s said,  _ you should be loyal to the man you’re going to marry tomorrow.  _

 

_ I don’t know, but something deep in my gut says that Aoi’s not telling me the whole truth about the witch. I need to find out more. _


End file.
